The Unemployment Insurance Fund said thousands of claims have been fraudulently launched by companies for dead individuals and non-existent staff.
UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping said vetting processes have revealed that between April and May this year, more than 4 000 claims were lodged on behalf of dead people.
He says the ID numbers used to apply for some workers were invalid.
Maruping said they are following every cent that has been paid out and will continue processing valid claims, but warned that some of the claims cannot be processed for obvious reasons.
Maruping said close to 50 000 (48 189) invalid ID numbers were used in April and this figure decreased to 43 176 in May.
In April, 106 488 ID numbers could not be found on any system, and this number went down to 84 278 in May.
